Nazareth sinks Benet to seize control in the ESCC

Nazareth senior forward Olivia Austin has an impressive set of skills, but one area she has been deficient in is free-throw shooting.

The Dartmouth recruit struggled again from the line on Saturday, making 5 of 12 attempts even as the Roadrunners knocked off Arrowhead, the top-ranked team in Wisconsin.

So Austin spent considerable time on Sunday refining her free throw technique with assistant coach Lauren Matthews.

“We were here for a while,” Austin said. “I think we shot a total of 150 throughout practice, give or take a few.

“I started off pretty shaky, I will not lie.”

Matthews changed Austin’s release point, moving it down several inches.

“We like to call her ‘Mommy’ because she always cares for all our needs,” Austin said. “She really helps. It went from somewhere along the lines of 25 of 50 to 41 of 50.”

The extra work paid off. Austin sank 7 of 8 foul shots and the Roadrunners went 12 of 14 as a team while edging visiting Benet 60-55 to seize sole possession of first place in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

It was the 12th consecutive win for Nazareth (21-3, 8-1), which leads Benet (17-6, 7-2) by one game with three league games remaining.

“We were coming back on one day’s rest but our kids always find a way to win,” Nazareth coach Eddie Stritzel said. “Lauren Matthews played with Olivia’s release point and I don’t know if it’s mental or not, but she shot it really well today. She’s just a big-time player.”

Indeed, Austin teamed with fellow senior Danielle Scully and sophomore Stella Sakalas to control the paint. Austin finished with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

“It’s better for me not to really overthink my shot,” Austin said. “Focusing on fundamentals is always key, but I was trying to clear my mind, take a breath and just get it up there.

“Dani always has good advice - sing a little song in your head and that will help clear your mind.”

Austin’s final four free throws came on the last two possessions of the third quarter. She swished both sets to give Nazareth a 44-38 lead going into the fourth quarter.

But Austin had plenty of help. Sakalas sank four 3-pointers in the first half and went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 19.7 seconds to cap Nazareth’s scoring. She led all players with 18 points.

Scully tallied all six of her points in the second half and added four rebounds and four assists. She took over the point guard duties after senior Mary Bridget Wilson got her fourth foul at the 6:06 mark of the fourth quarter.

Then there was senior guard Amalia Dray. The Boston College soccer recruit finished with 16 points and also drained four 3-pointers, including two huge ones in the fourth quarter, both of which gave the Roadrunners an eight-point cushion.

“I thought Ama hit some big shots,” Stritzel said. “Every time I looked (the lead) kept going down from 10 to 6 and then Ama made those big plays, and obviously Stella kept us going in the first half.”

Junior guard Lindsay Harzich also sank four treys and scored a team-high 17 points to keep the Redwings in it. Emma Briggs added 10 points, while Bridget Rifenburg contributed nine points and Emilia Sularski had eight points.

Benet shot just as well as Nazareth, including an 8-for-9 effort from the free throw line, but there was one area that may have made the different.

“They did a really good job on the rebounding,” Harzich said. “That had a big impact on us because Olivia and Dani are really big down there. We needed to box them out better.”

The loss snapped Benet’s eight-game winning streak, but the Redwings were much more competitive than they were in their first meeting with Nazareth, which beat them 51-33 in Lisle on December 13. They Redwings had lost just once since then.

“We’ve improved significantly,” Harzich said. “We fought to the end.

“We just couldn’t pull it out. But we’re definitely way better than we were the first time we played them.”

Austin agreed.

“They played a great game, were hitting all their shots,” Austin said. “It’s very fun playing against very tough teams like Benet. It was very good competition.”

The Roadrunners have faced great competition in nearly every game this season. But they have been up for the challenge and have won in a myriad of ways.

“I feel like we’re just coming together more and more,” Scully said. “We’re just building up our confidence and just taking every game even though we don’t always play the same every single game.

“It’s a different style every single game and we get everyone’s best shot, so I feel like it’s really good for our confidence.”